Gianni Basso r.i.p.

[king ubu]

I just found this on a blog and went looking it up. Only found some Italian news via google:

2009-08-20 12:12

Addio a Gianni Basso, re del jazz italiano

Funerali ad Asti con la sua orchestra e il saxofono

(ANSA) - ASTI, 20 AGO - L'orchestra jazz accanto all'altare, il suo saxofono, ospite d'onore, l'amico numero uno, ormai silenzioso su una sedia vuota. Cosi' commovente, suggestivo, e' stato l'addio, questa mattina, nella chiesa di San Secondo ad Asti, a Gianni Basso, jazzista di fama internazionale, protagonista per mezzo secolo di grandi concerti in Italia e all'estero. E' deceduto lunedi' scorso in ospedale a 78 anni, dopo una decina di mesi di sofferenze.(ANSA).

http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/regioni/pi..._120402208.html

There seems to be no English wiki entry either, but here's the Italian one:

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianni_Basso

[JSngry]

Just "discovered" him a few years ago, and became quite a fan. A fine, swinging player with a marvelous tone and phrasing, not unlike Ike Quebec in some ways.

RIP. Must've been some kind of life!

[Van Basten II]

RIP, great player indeed.

[king ubu]

I didn't think of checking AMG - indeed there's a little biography written by Eugene Chadbourne:

Gianni Basso was one of the lights who began shining on the European jazz scene following the end of World War II. He began as a clarinetist and first played professionally in Germany and Belgium in the late '40s with the Raoul Falsan Big Band. By the beginning of the next decade, he was established as a commercial "GB" or "general business" player in Milan, but one with a steady presence at jazz events, including some of the early Italian attempts at post-fascist festivals. From about 1954, a collaboration with trumpeter and composer Oscar Valdambrini began that resembled the relationship between Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, minus the former man's household-name status. Basso studied music in the busy northern city of Turin, where Valdambrini was a homeboy. It was more than just two Italian lads growing up with a fascination for American jazz -- this was a case of a tenor saxophone and trumpet finding each other. This led to all manner of musical possibilities, most notably the easy-to-maneuver-and-feed small combo (not that feeding anyone in Italy is a problem, ever).The partners' group was without a doubt the most popular jazz band in Italy in the '50s, accompanying many touring stars such as Billie Holiday, Lionel Hampton, Gerry Mulligan, Slide Hampton, and Chet Baker. The engaging style of tenor saxophonist Stan Getz was the primary goal Basso set for himself in terms of having a main man on the saxophone. His many subsequent recordings provide documentation of how he discovered Sonny Rollins and developed his own style from these sources to the point where the Verve label signed him and a top-notch singer such as Sarah Vaughan wanted a Basso baste as sauce on her 1984 serving entitled Mystery of Man. In the late '70s he founded the band Saxes Machine and subsequently fronted the Gianni Basso Big Band. In his senior years he settled into the comfort of the Rome studio scene, still playing in clubs and enjoying his growing historical stature on the European jazz scene. Even free jazz fans like him now.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&a...f9fpxq95ldhe~T1

Jim, what discs would you recommend? I only have Basso here and there as a sideman (w/Dusko Goykovich for instance).

[umum_cypher]

What a truly wonderful cover!

[Peter Friedman]

This is a CD I can easily recommend.

Gianni Basso & Guido Mansardi Trio - Live at Down Town - Splasc(h)

Recorded in 1994 in Milan, Italy

[bichos]

there is a fine recording called "blues for gassman" (vittorio gasman, the famouse actor) from 1959 with the basso-valdambrini octet. (oscar valdambrini on trumpet). it´s on a "gmg" cd. (walter gürtler, vanni moretto, boris gürtler present). coupled with the "basso-valdambrini present dino piana" album from 1960.

keep boppin´

marcel

[Dave James]

there is a fine recording called "blues for gassman" (vittorio gasman, the famouse actor) from 1959 with the basso-valdambrini octet. (oscar valdambrini on trumpet). it´s on a "gmg" cd. (walter gürtler, vanni moretto, boris gürtler present). coupled with the "basso-valdambrini present dino piana" album from 1960.

keep boppin´

marcel

Blues for Gassman is almost impossible to find. Believe me, I've tried. A couple of months ago, however, I almost fell out of my chair when it showed up on eMusic. Needless to say, I downloaded it instantaneously. Edited to indicate this is still available on eMusic along with: Parlami D'Amore Mariu'.

FWIW, from someone who has more than a few, mostly Basso & Valdambrini together, I'd recommend The Best in Modern Jazz Italy 1962 (the one pictured in king ubu's post) along with Exciting 6, one simply called Quintet and one other, Stella By Starlight. I am less enamored than Marcel with the Dino Piana album. As may be obvious, I'm partial to the earlier material by the duo as opposed to Basso's later solo stuff.

Most sorry to hear of his passing. He's provided me with more than a few good moments. That's about all you can ask of anyone.

Up over and out

Edited August 24, 2009 by Dave James

[clifford_thornton]

I have very little Basso in my collection but what I do have is really nice.

RIP.

[Chuck Nessa]

He played on one of my first "cut-outs". Ninety nine cents in 1961 meant a bunch at the time.

[JSngry]

An older thread: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...05&hl=basso

As to what I would recommend, honestly, it's all pretty much of a piece (in a good way), but the things from the last 20-25 years seem to me a little more "fully formed". So I guess, go by tune selection, accompaniment, etc. There is a Philology side, Tribute To Lars Gullin 1, I think it is, that I keep coming back to more than anything else, though. But it is all good.

[Dave James]

The Gullin tribute disc Jim refers to is also on eMusic.

Up over and out.

[king ubu]

Thanks for all the recs - wasn't aware of the previous thread, will read it!